Of all of Apple’s major product lines, it seems that none has been the subject of such intense debate and scrutiny over the past decade as the iPad. Can you really work with it? Is it a substitute for the computer? Will it ever replace the Mac for all our computing needs?
Products like the Mac and the iPhone have always had a clear role in our lives; It was not so with the iPad. Sometimes it fits into our lives, solving problems that neither the iPhone nor the Mac are ready for, but it fails to supplant either.
Despite everything, the iPad continued to live in the shadow of its two parents. And now in its second decade, the iPad’s future is anything but clear. Its recent evolution (especially when it comes to the long-awaited visual organizer feature) seems to suggest it’s headed in one of two directions.
The big iPhone
The idea of the iPad may have come before the iPhone, but there’s no denying that the platform of smart phones of Apple served as the basis for the Tablet. Until recently, iPadOS was just a slightly different version of iOS, and it showed.
The features that set it apart, like multitasking and external file support, didn’t come until much later, and it’s only in recent years that iPadOS has managed to make its own way.
But precisely because of this, the iPad remains very much, for better or for worse, a big iPhone, a criticism that was leveled at it in its early years.
It has the same home screen and interface as the smartphonewhich makes it even more confusing that some new features are coming to iOS and not Tablet.
This is the case of widget since the home screen, which debuted in iOS 14 but didn’t appear on iPad until iPadOS 15, and this year iOS 16’s customizable lock screen is still sadly missing from iPadOS.
At the same time, the fact that iPadOS has integrated its own platform means that it has progressed to offer features that are not present (and not suitable) for the iPhone, such as multitasking via Split View and now the visual organizer.
But this attempt to fix one of the iPad’s biggest flaws continues to pay the price of having its origins in iOS: iPhone apps don’t have the concept of “windows,” which means the iPad must work in reverse to create a multitasking system. it really makes sense.
The beta version presented several bugs and difficulties. It will be interesting to see what the final version looks like. Given what Apple has done before with multitasking on the iPad, I don’t have high hopes.
Maybe with a little more time and distance from iOS, iPadOS will finally find its way, but the iPhone isn’t the only device the Tablet shared much of their DNA.
The Mac, his father
In a way, the Mac is a much older sibling whose presence has overshadowed all of the iPad’s moves. Support for external files? A staple of the Mac experience. Complete multitasking? The Mac has had it for over 30 years. The Windows? They’ve been on Mac since day one.
What’s most fascinating is that the iPad seems determined to chart its own course in implementing many of these technologies, and sometimes it just seems like it’s different.
Instead of adapting a version of the Mac’s multitasking system, iPadOS insisted on inventing its own approach: first with Split View and now with Visual Organizer.
It’s true that it’s fine to try to chart a new course and not assume that what was before was the best possible solution… but it’s also true that when something has worked well for decades, maybe we’re just trying to reinvent the wheel.
On the contrary, the fact that the iPad wanted to avoid the features of the Mac (in particular, the freedom of the Mac platform, compared to the closed nature of iOS) prevented the iPad from becoming all that it could be.
Of course, turning iPad into Mac is also not the solution for Tablet.
Half-way
The iPad shouldn’t be a big iPhone, and it shouldn’t become a Mac either. The most difficult needle to thread: making the iPad a true device in its own right.
A good start would be to question everything that Tablet inherited from iOS. For example, is a simple screen full of app icons the best use of the device’s most valuable space? There’s no reason to keep dragging out decisions that have been made for a totally different device.
The next step is to borrow things wisely. If the Mac has a feature that can benefit iPad users, there’s no shame in finding a way to make it work on the Tablet. The company has already shown it can do just that with the Magic Keyboard’s excellent keyboard and mouse support. We want more.
When the iPad hit the market, it looked like a third revolution was brewing, but a decade later, much of that potential has been wasted. That’s not to say the iPad wasn’t a success, just that it wasn’t all it could be.
The real opportunity is for the iPad to be the best of both worlds: taking the modern aspects of iOS, combining what worked well on the Mac, and making it into a device that’s more than the sum of its parts.
Original article published on igamesnews.com.
